THE Health Ministry has reported 19 people contracting a Covid-19 variant of concern (VOC) from May 24 to date, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

According to Noor Hisham, said there were four Delta variant cases – previously known as the Indian variant – and 15 Beta cases, formerly known as the South African variant.

Labuan reported three Delta cases, while Kuala Lumpur reported one. All three cases in Labuan were imported and were part of the Layangan cluster, while the case detected in Kuala Lumpur stemmed from local transmission.

Six Beta variant cases were reported in Johor and five in Kelantan, while Kuala Lumpur, Kedah, Malacca, and Terengganu reported one case each.

All 15 cases were from local transmission, said Noor Hisham.

He added that as of today, there were 138 VOC and variant of interest (VOI) cases in Malaysia.

“From the total detected, 122 cases were VOC and 16 were VOI,” he said.

A VOI is a variant suspected to either be more contagious than the initial strain, more deadly, or resistant to the protection offered by vaccines.

It also has the potential to become a VOC.

He said there are 104 Beta variant cases, nine Alpha – formerly known as the UK variant – and nine Delta.

Meanwhile, he said there are 12 Theta cases, or the Philippines variant, three Eta (the Nigerian variant) and one Kappa (India).

The World Health Organisation is redesignating Covid-19 variants according to the Greek alphabet to prevent any stigma towards the countries first detecting them. – June 4, 2021.